Commissioner's Statement on the Employment Situation News Release

Advance copies of this statement are made available to the press
under lock-up conditions with the explicit understanding that the
data are embargoed until 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Statement of
Keith Hall
Commissioner
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Friday, June 4, 2010
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 431,000 in May,
reflecting the hiring of 411,000 temporary workers for Census
2010. The unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent.
Private-sector employment showed little change over the
month (+41,000) but has increased by 495,000 since December.
Manufacturing employment continued to rise, with a gain of
29,000 in May. The industry has added 126,000 jobs thus far in
2010. Employment growth also continued in temporary help
services. A gain of 31,000 jobs in May was in line with the
average increase over the prior 3 months. Mining employment
increased by 10,000 in May; this industry has added 50,000 jobs
since October.
Federal government employment rose sharply in May,
reflecting the addition of 411,000 temporary workers for Census
2010. Total temporary census staffing was 564,000 during the May
survey reference period. Employment in state government
excluding education decreased by 13,000.
Employment in health care changed little (+8,000) in May.
The industry had added 20,000 jobs per month on average over the
prior 12 months. Construction employment fell by 35,000 in May,
largely offsetting 2 months of gains. May's decline was spread
throughout the sector. Employment in other major industries
showed little or no change.
Average hourly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm
payrolls rose by 7 cents in May to $22.57. Over the past 12
months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.9 percent.
From April 2009 to April 2010, the Consumer Price Index for All
Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose by 2.2 percent.
Turning to measures from the survey of households, the
unemployment rate edged down to 9.7 percent in May, while the
number of unemployed was little changed at 15.0 million. The
rate had been 9.7 percent in the first 3 months of the year
before ticking up to 9.9 percent in April. In May, 6.8 million
people had been jobless for 27 weeks or more. These long-term
unemployed made up 46.0 percent of all unemployed persons,
essentially the same as in April.
The employment-population ratio was about unchanged at 58.7
percent in May. Among the employed, the number of individuals
working part time who preferred full-time work fell from 9.2 to
8.8 million.
In summary, private-sector payroll employment was little
changed in May, although there was a large increase in government
employment due to temporary census hiring. The jobless rate
returned to 9.7 percent.